There were only two and a half days, and that included the going and coming. We might have taken one look and said too much for too little. But really, how can you measure the value of fresh air and cool water? The wind through the pines; the clouds skating across the sky; the snap of pitch and flame in the fire ring; the taste of roasted meats and coal-baked potatoes; the smell of coffee & tea in early morning sun; the feeling of simply sitting still - all of it folded together, leaf upon leaf, a book of vibrant living. Vibrant and simple, for when else are your needs cared for by what's found in a bag, a cot, and a cooler?

First time jumping off a cliff, first time skiing behind the twenty-year-old boat, first time seeing this lake, these skies. First time watching Nellie spend hours in the water (we'd look over the cliff below our camp, and there'd she'd be, swimming, standing, looking).